


Loss

by Oreki (orphan_account)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gen, i cant tag them all im so lazy, the entire team's in here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-10
Updated: 2014-06-10
Packaged: 2018-02-03 23:42:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1759851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Oreki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>prompt from imaginethehaikyuukids: "Imagine Hinata losing one or both of his legs in some sort of accident."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Loss

**Author's Note:**

> I'M HAVING AN INTENSE FEELING

The whole team hears about it in the middle of practice.

Kageyama's getting ready to toss a ball to Tanaka, Sugawara is calling, "Move back!" on the other side of the net. Daichi, also on the far side, smirks at Suga's back, somewhat galvanized by his friend's actions. Nishinoya, ever energetic, bounces up and down on the balls of his feet in anticipation; Tsukishima lurks at the back of the court, with Yamagushi's eyes tailing him. The ball is set by Kageyama, and Tanaka smacks it hard between the outstretched arms of the blockers.

The team on the near side cheers, with the exception of Tsukishima. However, the very next moment, they hear footsteps pounding against the walkway outside, and everyone stops. They rarely hear that type of urgency, unless Takeda has scheduled a match. So they all cease moving and look at the door expectantly.

As soon as Takeda enters, Tanaka says, "Hey, Take-cha- "

But Takeda is still moving, and without even pausing to acknowledge Tanaka, he yells, "H-Hinata-kun - accident - he's - hospital - "

No one can understand him all that well, but at the words "accident" and "hospital", everyone goes pale. Even Nishinoya stops moving, taken in by the uncertainty of the situation.

Moments later, Coach Ukai arrives; he's less out of breath than Takeda was, having run a bit slower. "Hinata got into an accident," he says, his voice low and deadly serious. "He's in the hospital right now." In the silence that follows, one would be able to hear a pin drop on the other side of the gym. Something does drop; Sugawara drops the volleyball he's been holding since Tanaka hit it.

The sudden sound of the impact, deafening in the quiet, makes everyone jump. A small snicker comes from Tsukishima's direction, and the tension hanging over the gymnasium subsides a little. But then Daichi asks, "How bad is it?"

Ukai bites his lips and sighs. "Doctors don't know yet. Still looking him over."

Gloom settles back over the team, and Suga says, "Are we allowed to see him yet?" The coach shakes his head, and the third year sighs. They all stay silent for some time, save for Takeda, who's still getting his breath back. No one says anything, but they're all thinking of the worst. Even Tsukishima isn't insensitive enough to comment in this type of situation.

Finally, Daichi breaks the silence. "Well, I'm sure Hinata would hate to hold up practice, so we should finish," he says. His voice is back to the confident captain's tone that they're all so used to. "And when we're allowed to, we'll all go see him. How about that?"

Noya grins to Tanaka, and both of them reply with a loud "Ossu!" The rest of the team echoes the affirmative, and Daichi claps and grins at them. "Good! Then back to it."

But though they all hide it, their performance drops. Tanaka misses a ball that he would have hit no problem minutes ago; Tsukishima jumps a second too late to block. Kageyama's normally unfaltering toss accidentally hits the net. They all say "Don't mind!" to these faults, but they know that they're still all thinking the same thing: _What if it's really bad?_

 

* * *

 

A while after practice, several hours spent loitering around the school's vending machines, Ukai comes driving up in an old truck. He calls from the window, "Hinata's mother said we can go see him now, so come on." The truck's not quite big enough, though - the three smallest members, Nishinoya, Shimizu, and Yachi, end up having to sit on people's laps.

Of course, Nishinoya picks Asahi, and the girls somehow get shoved onto Kageyama and Ennoshita. 

Ukai says, as they all pile in, "Right, all of you. We're allowed to see him, but they haven't told me what his condition's like." Takeda nods, then finishes for the coach.

"So all of you, you have to keep calm," the teacher says. "His mother and sister are also with him, so be respectful to them, too." The team nods, though most of them are buzzing with anxiety and are all in a hurry to be off already. Ukai senses their impatience, and pulls out of the school parking lot quickly. The trip is made in a tense silence, and only a few times does any boy's voice break the oppressive quiet.

As soon as Ukai parks in the hospital's lot, Nishinoya is clambering over Asahi's leg ("Ow," says the ace as he gets stepped on) and pushing the door open. The rest of the team streams out after him, and comes to a stop in the almost-vacant parking lot.

Kageyama looks up at the hospital with his customary irritated expression, but he's biting his lip almost hard enough to break through the skin. Nishinoya grits his teeth, but forces himself to move as lively as he usually does, springing off Asahi's shoulder. Tanaka and Yamaguchi both look concerned, but both are staying optimistic about Hinata's state. Tsukishima's face is inscrutable, blocked by his MP3 player as he dips his head down to switch songs.

Ukai claps and everyone turns to face him. "All right, so we're going in quietly. Don't do anything stupid," he warns. Unusually compliant, the Karasuno boys line up and make their way to the entrance of the hospital. They leave it up to Takeda-sensei to ask for Hinata's room number, which he obtains quickly and then comes back. His face is grim as he leads the team up the stairs (it would take several trips for all of them to take the elevator).

Hinata's room is a few floors up; no one counts, since they're about to see Hinata and all of their optimism or pessimism will be confirmed or denied. Outside of Hinata's room, a woman and a small girl stand; the older is obviously Hinata's mother, sharing many of his features, and the little girl is Natsu at a glance. Natsu's eyes are red, and just barely swelling with tears. Sugawara looks away from the raw expression; the young girl is obviously trying to keep it together in front of her brother. Sure enough, as soon as the nurses close the door, she breaks down crying.

It breaks the silence.

The loud, halting sobs make the team's hearts drop through the floor just like that; Natsu's face is red and her nose is running. She doesn't care about appearances, she's just mourning. Hot tears run down her face as her mother sinks down to her knees to cradle her.

Hinata's mother looks up at the team in slight surprise. "Oh, you're here," she says. She's holding back tears, too, for her daughter's sake. "You can go in and see him, if you'd like." Ukai and Takeda nod to her respectfully, and then gesture for the team to go ahead. Daichi leads them toward Hinata's room and opens the door slowly.

Nishinoya darts in - "Hey, Shouyou - " before falling silent. The rest of the team files in to find him staring at Hinata with the same expression as he had when he was told Asahi hadn't come back - except for he isn't looking at Hinata.

He's looking where Hinata's legs used to be.

 It's obvious to all of them, even under the blanket. Hinata's legs are gone from the knee down. And then it hits them all like a ton of bricks.

Hinata's legs are gone.

His future of volleyball is over.

And then they all look up and see Hinata's expression. He's awake, yes, and sitting up, but...

His eyes are downcast, his brow furrowed. He bites his lip and his nose scrunches slightly, before that all just disappears and leaves behind one expression: defeat.

Complete and utter defeat. 

Silence falls over the ward.

But finally, one low voice speaks. "Stop kidding around."

At first, no one can trace where the voice is coming from; but finally, they look around and see Kageyama, who's somehow gotten close to Hinata's bed. He roughly grabs Hinata's shirt and yells again, "Stop kidding around!" He's jerked the redhead up a little, and his voice cracks slightly as he yells the sentence. "Don't joke around any more! There's no way you could have lost your legs!"

"Hey, Kageyama! Stop!" Sugawara pulls the taller boy away from Hinata, but Kageyama continues to shout, his voice strained.

"What have you - no, what have we - what have we trained for this past year?" he demands. His eyes are red. "What have we been working towards?" Hinata lifts his head to speak, but before he can say a single word, a drop of liquid falls on his sheets.

Tears drip down usually-stoic and uncaring Kageyama's face, staining his cheeks with salt. The setter clenches his fists next to his hips, and then tries to wipe away some of the wetness from his face. But the tears just keep coming, hot and relentless, and he can only manage one more choked sentence:

"What was that all for, then?"

 More tears begin to fall then. First Nishinoya, who despite trying to look strong cries like a baby in the face of something like this; then Asahi, covering his mouth and trying not to look at the bedridden first year. Sugawara and Sawamura follow suit; Suga wants to comfort Hinata, but has no words to say to him. Daichi feels as though he's lost one of his own limbs, seeing the usually sunny boy so depressed. Tanaka gulps back mournful sounds, and Yachi stands near the door with tears sliding silently down her small cheeks. The other second years slip out silently, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi following. 

"I..."

The brittle voice makes everyone look up. Hinata's eyes are screwed up once more, and he looks fiercely at the blankets covering his legs.

"I can't spike any more," Hinata finally yells, startling them all. "I can't spike, or jump, o-or run..." The tears welling in his eyes finally overflow, and the small boy starts wailing.

"I can't hit any tosses, I can't jump, I can't win any more," he sobs. Tears flow freely, dropping onto his still-bruised hands and his blankets.

Suddenly, with all the strength he possesses, Hinata punches the mattress where his legs would be. "I can't feel anything down there," he wails again, "and I won't be able to. I can't win any more! The nationals and the Little Giant - they're all out of reach now!" And he starts crying with all he's got, sobbing and curling in on himself. His fists clutch the blankets as his whole body shakes.

And everyone wants to say something to comfort him, anything to help the sunny child that had still been here hours ago.

But there is nothing left to tell him.

**Author's Note:**

> I CAN'T WRITE SADFIC BUT I'M STILL HAVING A FEELING  
> original post with the prompt: http://imaginethehaikyuukids.tumblr.com/post/83660581402/imagine-hinata-losing-one-or-both-of-his-legs-in  
> i also took some lines from this continuation: http://tetsuyakurodakee.tumblr.com/post/83664349579/imaginethehaikyuukids-imagine-hinata-losing


End file.
